■646 PATHOLOGY OF PARTURITIOX. 



apoplexy, in. almost every case, follows an easy and rapid expulsion of 

 the foetus without assistance, and ejection of the foetal membranes at the 

 ordinary time. Indeed, parturition is generally wonderfully easy and 

 the opposite of abnormal. So much is this the case, that Kohne boldly 

 asserts that a difficult or protracted delivery is never followed by this 

 disease ; and another authority (Banderschieren) is no less positive in 

 declaring that if a Cow has a difficult calving, or if the placenta is re- 

 tained, there is little reason to apprehend an attack of the disease. But 

 this statement is not absolutely correct. 



The more rapidly the uterus contracts and resumes its normal size, 

 so the more danger there is of parturient apoplexy ; while the longer it 

 remains relaxed or the membranes are retained in it, so the chances 

 are diminished. In the examination of the bodies of Cows which have 

 died, the uterus is generally found very firmly contracted. Before the 

 expulsion of the foetal membranes, the disease is exceptionally rare. In 

 a very few cases, the attack has commenced during parturition, and in 

 still fewer before birth, when the lacteal secretion had not appeared. 



Constipation and gastric repletion have been held by one or two 

 writers to be causes, and others attribute it to over-repletion immediately 

 before parturition. 



These are the chief causes which have been given as operating in 

 the production of this grave affectiota ; and it will be seen that they 

 are sufficiently numerous and diversified to prove that the nature of 

 the disease is obscure — so far at least as its etiology is concerned. 

 The chief points to be remembered may be stated as follows : parturient 

 apoplexy, as a rule, attacks Cows within one to five days after parturi- 

 tion, and especially when that act has been easy, prompt, and natural ; 

 the animals which are affected are those of the higher breeds, good 

 milkers, in a state of plethora, and pluriparse ; one attack predisposes 

 to another. This leads to a consideration of the iMthological anatomy 

 and nature of the malady. 



Pathological Anatomy. 



Notwithstanding the numerous, characteristic, and striking symp- 

 toms which mark this disease, the post mortem appearances, no matter 

 whether the animal has been killed or allowed to die, are for the most 

 part of a somewhat varied character. In the majority of the descrip- 

 tions there is much confusion, the lesions of parturient fever being 

 mistaken for those of parturient apoplexy, and vice versa, just as the 

 two diseases are confounded with each other. In this malady the 

 generative organs are usually little changed ; the uterus may be con- 

 gested — which it always is immediately after parturition, or it may 

 even be paler than usual ; but it is generally firmly contracted. 



The digestive organs are also usually normal, or their bloodvessels 

 are much distended — perhaps due to paralysis of the vaso-motor system 

 of nerves. The rumen is distended with gas in many cases, and the 

 third compartment of the stomach is often filled with hard dry food 

 between its leaves, while the intestines contain somewhat hardened 

 faeces. The gall-bladder is sometimes much distended. The lungs 

 are normal, perhaps slightly emphysematous ; at other times they are 

 congested, or in different stages of pneumonia if foreign matters have 

 obtained access to the air-passages. The examination of the brain 

 has not yielded very satisfactory or constant results. Some authorities 

 have not discovered any pathological lesions worthy of note, either in 



